Different Scars
by MadiOfTheSun
Summary: Seremia and Aaron are a slytherin and a hufflepuff, forbidden friends. After Dumbledore's death, things get even worse then they were before. Love blossoms, but so does conflict, and the threat of war is hanging over their heads. It soon becomes clear to them that if they wish to stay together, sacrifices will have to be made. Behind-the-scenes romance.


Chapter one: Last year

Sermia boarded the train excitedly. The big red train, the one taking her to Hogwarts, finally! She waved goodbye to her mum out the window, and settled down in an empty slytherin campartment. She knew she would be dead if she was caught in her, and she hoped it wouldn't be empty for long.

"Any of these seats taken?" Said a joking voice from the hall.

"Aaron!" Seremia jumped out of her seat and hugged her best friend. He hugged her tightly. She didn't want him to let go. He didn't. (Well, until the train started to move, startling them both)

They both receded, blush spreading across Seremia's face. She cursed herself for getting so close to emotion. She was hufflepuff, and she had had to prove her worth over the years. Showing little emotion in public, especially pain, was the key.

They both burst out laughing to cover the silence. "How was your summer Mia?" Aaron asked her. He just didn't want her to ask about his. He knew she could talk for hours if he let her.

"Well, it was fine. Really boring, actually. I went to the lake with my new boyfriend though."

Mia saw his face go green, then white, then purple, before she was unable to contain her laughter and said, gasping for breath "Dear Merlin! I was kidding!"

"Oh. Oh. Jeez, Mia don't do that."

"Oh, please. I don't get even asked out, never mind get a boyfriend.

Aaron knew that wasn't true. Guys sometimes asked her out, and he had heard guys say that she was "Hot." Which was true, he guessed, she was very pretty, but they had been friends since first year, so he didn't think of her that way. Usually. Besides, he was a slytherin. She was hufflepuff, and those two didn't work well together. There was only one way he was allowed to be her friend, and he didn't really want her to know. "I can't believe the school actually opened again without Dumbledore this year! It doesn't make things feel very safe, that's for sure."

"What about your summer?" Mia asked, innocently enough, but she knew he was keeping something from her. She hated it when he tried to keep secrets from her. He never succeeded.

He shrugged. "Not much. The usual."

Mia gave him the look. The look that meant "You really think I'm buying this?"

"Seriously. Aaron, what's wrong? You sent me exactly ONE letter over the summer. Whats going on with you?"

Aaron sighed, trying to decide if he should risk lying to her again. She was one of the cleverest hufflepuffs, and she had a fiery temper. She was skilled, she could have him on the floor in two seconds flat. He figured it was better to tell her and make her swear not to say anything.

"Look…" He started. "Now I'm going to ask you to curb the fire while I explain, because this will have to be quick. I- my owl was taken from me because my dad thinks I'm actually friends with you."

He saw the hurt appear on her face, before she masked it over and became impassive.

"Here's the deal. When we were in first year and became friends, remember, when you dumped your dinner all over one of the slytherin second years because he picked on a smaller girl in hufflepuff?"

Mia smiled at the memory. She didn't regret it.

"Well, I still remember when I laughed at him, and high fived you. The whole crowd went silent, because hufflepuffs and slytherins aren't friends. It just doesn't happen."

"And who's fault is that…" Trailed off Mia. Aaron rolled his eyes, but he knew his house was to blame for all that. He actually liked the muggle-borns, he couldn't tell his family, for obvious reasons. Hermione Granger and a few other muggle borns were wonderful company, actually. They were just as magical as any pure-blood wizard. Hermione was more talented than any slytherin. (He'd get beaten if his father heard him say that.)

"My father beat me when I went home for break. I'm from a wealthy pureblood slytherin family, he said, and encouaging uproar from a muggle-born was unacceptable. I knew then that if I wanted to be friends with you, I would have to find a way to do it sneakily. So, I told my parents… I told them I was getting close to you so I could backstab you, possibly kill you now that the dark lord has returned."

Mia gasped. "You think Harry Potter was telling the truth a couple years ago?! I thought so as well, and I told him so, but I didn't think any one else was with me on that!"

"Oh he's back alright. My father was gloating about us being one of the only families still in-"

His speech halted as the train stopped eerily. Aaron looked out the window with Mia. They both shuddered as a compartment door opened close to theirs and they heard agitated talking that sounded like an adult. A door closer to them opened.

Aaron thought quickly. "Mia, under the seat. Now!"

Seremia was confused, but she didn't argue. She had learned to trust him over the years, and she didn't question when his voice got hard and tense like that.

Seconds after she was safely hidden, the door to there compartment opened, and a man in long black robes walked crisply in. He looked at Aaron, who had whipped out a book and faked a good "Startled" face when they he entered. Mia's breath hitched as he checked under the other seat. He was about to look under hers, when Aaron's quick thinking saved them both.

"If your checking for Harry Potter, this is a slytherin compartment. He'd be with his filthy muggle friends in gryffindor."

The man sneered an uninteligble response, and left coldly.

Aaron helped his friend out, and she looked at him gratefully. Both knew that they would have been hurt very badly if Aaron was caught with a hufflepuff.

She let out a deep breath. "How are they allowed to search the train? Moreover, why on earth did they think that Harry Potter would risk coming to Hogwarts this year?"

Aaron shrugged and gave her a small smile. "Cause they're all idiots?"

Mia laughed, but inside she was a little scared what hogwarts was like if deatheaters were now allowed to search the train. She gave herself a false hope that perhaps Mcgonnagal had become head master. But she knew inside that everything was about to change.


End file.
